The viol consort The Teares of the Muses is offering a beautiful new
CD: Ein Lämmlein: 17th-
Century German Passion Music. Directed by Margaret Panofsky, The
Teares of the Muses
is joined by Kathleen Cantrell and Campbell Rightmyer, sopranos; and
Morwaread Farbood,
organist. The Teares’ performers are Margaret Panofsky, treble viol
I; Caroline Marris, treble
viol II; David Fenton, tenor viol; Jeremy Brandt-Young, bass viol;
and Christina Brandt-Young,
continuo bass viol.

From the first track to the last, the music moves in an elegiac
fashion through the most solemn
portion of the church year—Holy Week and Good Friday. The featured
works are Capricornus’s
lament “O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid” and “Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt
die Schuld”—its five
movements separated by Tunder’s “An Wasserflüßen Babylon,”
appropriate chorale settings
by Scheidt and Sebastiani, and somber dances by Schein and Funck.
The distinctively hued
scoring of high voices in combination with viols was an ensemble
sound much favored in
seventeenth-century Germany—here enhanced by abundant ornamentation.

For the latest news about The Teares of the Muses and ways to buy
Ein Lämmlein: 17th-
Century German Passion Music, visit the Teares’ website at
www.tearesofthemuses.com.
The
CD is available on Amazon, CD Baby, iTunes, and elsewhere.